Current and future perspectives of atomic force microscopy to elicit the intrinsic properties of soft matter at the single molecule level

Carlos Marcuello; Carlos Marcuello

doi:10.3934/bioeng.2022020

AIMS Bioengineering

2022, Volume 9, Issue 3: 293-306. doi: 10.3934/bioeng.2022020

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Perspective

Current and future perspectives of atomic force microscopy to elicit the intrinsic properties of soft matter at the single molecule level

Carlos Marcuello ^{1,2
,
,}

1.
Institute of Nanoscience and Materials of Aragón (INMA), CSIC-University of Zaragoza, 50018 Zaragoza, Spain
2.
Advanced Microscopy Laboratory (LMA), University of Zaragoza, 50018 Zaragoza, Spain

Received: 26 July 2022 Revised: 03 September 2022 Accepted: 19 September 2022 Published: 21 September 2022

Soft matter encompasses multitude of systems like biomolecules, living cells, polymers, composites or blends. The increasing interest to better understand their physico-chemical properties has significantly favored the development of new techniques with unprecedented resolution. In this framework, atomic force microscopy (AFM) can act as one main actor to address multitude of intrinsic sample characteristics at the nanoscale level. AFM presents many advantages in comparison to other bulk techniques as the assessment of individual entities discharging thus, ensemble averaging phenomena. Moreover, AFM enables the visualization of singular events that eventually can provide response of some open questions that still remain unclear. The present manuscript aims to make the reader aware of the potential applications in the employment of this tool by providing recent examples of scientific studies where AFM has been employed with success. Several operational modes like AFM imaging, AFM based force spectroscopy (AFM-FS), nanoindentation, AFM-nanoscale infrared spectroscopy (AFM-nanoIR) or magnetic force microscopy (MFM) will be fully explained to detail the type of information that AFM is capable to gather. Finally, future prospects will be delivered to discern the following steps to be conducted in this field.
- atomic force microscopy (AFM),
- AFM nanoinfrared spectroscopy,
- biomolecular interactions,
- biophysics,
- force spectroscopy,
- nanoindentation,
- nanoscale,
- physico-chemical properties,
- single molecule studies
Citation: Carlos Marcuello. Current and future perspectives of atomic force microscopy to elicit the intrinsic properties of soft matter at the single molecule level[J]. AIMS Bioengineering, 2022, 9(3): 293-306. doi: 10.3934/bioeng.2022020

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Abstract

Soft matter encompasses multitude of systems like biomolecules, living cells, polymers, composites or blends. The increasing interest to better understand their physico-chemical properties has significantly favored the development of new techniques with unprecedented resolution. In this framework, atomic force microscopy (AFM) can act as one main actor to address multitude of intrinsic sample characteristics at the nanoscale level. AFM presents many advantages in comparison to other bulk techniques as the assessment of individual entities discharging thus, ensemble averaging phenomena. Moreover, AFM enables the visualization of singular events that eventually can provide response of some open questions that still remain unclear. The present manuscript aims to make the reader aware of the potential applications in the employment of this tool by providing recent examples of scientific studies where AFM has been employed with success. Several operational modes like AFM imaging, AFM based force spectroscopy (AFM-FS), nanoindentation, AFM-nanoscale infrared spectroscopy (AFM-nanoIR) or magnetic force microscopy (MFM) will be fully explained to detail the type of information that AFM is capable to gather. Finally, future prospects will be delivered to discern the following steps to be conducted in this field.

Acknowledgments

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for profit sectors. The author acknowledges the funding that covers his salary coming from EU Recovery action 2021 (CSIC - project code: QTP2103003).

Conflict of interest

The author declares no conflict of interest.

Author contributions

Carlos Marcuello contributed in the conceptualization, original draft preparation, validation, writing-review and edition. The author has read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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